The role of bacteriophages in facilitating the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in municipal wastewater treatment plants

IF 11.4 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL

Water Research Pub Date : 2024-11-09 DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2024.122776

Qiang Wang , Min Wang , Qingxiang Yang , Lingran Feng , Hao Zhang , Ruifei Wang , Ruimin Wang

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Abstract

Bacteriophages play integral roles in the ecosystem; however, their precise involvement in horizontal gene transfer and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are not fully understood. In this study, a coculture system involving consortia of bacteriophages and multidrug-resistant bacteria from an aerobic tank in a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was established to investigate the functions of bacteriophages in ARG transfer and spread. The results of the cocultivation of the MRB and bacteriophage consortia indicated that the bacterial community remained stable throughout the whole process, but the addition of bacteriophages significantly increased ARG abundance, especially in bacteriophage DNA. Nine out of the 11 identified ARGs significantly increased, indicating that more bacteriophage particles carried ARGs in the system after cocultivation. In addition, 686 plasmids were detected during cocultivation, of which only 3.36 % were identified as conjugative plasmids, which is significantly lower than the proportion found among previously published plasmids (25.2 %, totaling 14,029 plasmids). Our findings revealed that bacteriophages may play important roles in the horizontal transfer of ARGs through both bacteriophage-mediated conduction and an increase in extracellular ARGs; however, conjugative transfer may not be the main mechanism by which multidrug-resistant bacteria acquire and spread ARGs. Unlike in most previous reports, a coculture system of diverse bacteria and bacteriophages was established in this study to assess bacteriophage functions in ARG transfer and dissemination in the environment, overcoming the limitations associated with the isolation of bacteria and bacteriophages, as well as the specificity of bacteriophage hosts.

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噬菌体在促进城市污水处理厂抗生素耐药性基因水平转移中的作用

噬菌体在生态系统中发挥着不可或缺的作用；然而，人们对噬菌体参与水平基因转移和抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）传播的确切情况还不完全了解。本研究建立了一个由噬菌体和来自城市污水处理厂好氧池的多重耐药菌组成的共培养系统，以研究噬菌体在 ARG 转移和传播中的功能。MRB和噬菌体联合培养的结果表明，细菌群落在整个过程中保持稳定，但噬菌体的加入显著增加了ARG的丰度，尤其是噬菌体DNA中的ARG。在 11 个已确定的 ARGs 中，有 9 个明显增加，这表明共培养后系统中有更多的噬菌体颗粒携带 ARGs。此外，在共培养过程中还检测到了 686 个质粒，其中只有 3.36% 被鉴定为共轭质粒，这一比例明显低于之前公布的质粒比例（25.2%，共 14,029 个质粒）。我们的研究结果表明，噬菌体可能通过噬菌体介导的传导和细胞外ARGs的增加在ARGs的水平转移中发挥重要作用；然而，共轭转移可能并不是耐多药细菌获得和传播ARGs的主要机制。与以往大多数报告不同的是，本研究建立了一个由多种细菌和噬菌体组成的共培养系统，以评估噬菌体在环境中传递和传播 ARG 的功能，克服了细菌和噬菌体分离的局限性以及噬菌体宿主的特异性。

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来源期刊

Water Research 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

20.80

自引率

9.40%

发文量

1307

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Water Research, along with its open access companion journal Water Research X, serves as a platform for publishing original research papers covering various aspects of the science and technology related to the anthropogenic water cycle, water quality, and its management worldwide. The audience targeted by the journal comprises biologists, chemical engineers, chemists, civil engineers, environmental engineers, limnologists, and microbiologists. The scope of the journal include: •Treatment processes for water and wastewaters (municipal, agricultural, industrial, and on-site treatment), including resource recovery and residuals management; •Urban hydrology including sewer systems, stormwater management, and green infrastructure; •Drinking water treatment and distribution; •Potable and non-potable water reuse; •Sanitation, public health, and risk assessment; •Anaerobic digestion, solid and hazardous waste management, including source characterization and the effects and control of leachates and gaseous emissions; •Contaminants (chemical, microbial, anthropogenic particles such as nanoparticles or microplastics) and related water quality sensing, monitoring, fate, and assessment; •Anthropogenic impacts on inland, tidal, coastal and urban waters, focusing on surface and ground waters, and point and non-point sources of pollution; •Environmental restoration, linked to surface water, groundwater and groundwater remediation; •Analysis of the interfaces between sediments and water, and between water and atmosphere, focusing specifically on anthropogenic impacts; •Mathematical modelling, systems analysis, machine learning, and beneficial use of big data related to the anthropogenic water cycle; •Socio-economic, policy, and regulations studies.